June 7, 2010

Imperialism and Lies

Reflections by comrade Fidel

I had no choice but to write two reflections on Iran and Korea explaining the imminent danger of a war with the use of nuclear weapons. I have also expressed my opinion that in one of these cases the danger could be thwarted if China decided to veto the resolution promoted by the United States at the UN Security Council. The other depends of factors that escape any possibility of control, given the fanatic behavior of the State of Israel, which the United States has turned into a strong nuclear power that refuses to accept restraint from the superpower.

At the time of the first US intervention to crush the Islamic Revolution in June 1953, --in defense of its own interests and of those of its close ally the United Kingdom-- which placed Mohammad Reza Pahlevi in power, Israel was a small State that had yet to seize nearly the entire Palestinian territory, a portion of Syria and not a small part of neighboring Jordan that was still then defended by the Arab Legion, of which not a shadow was left after that.

Today, the hundreds of missiles with nuclear warheads, supported by the most sophisticated planes supplied by the United States, are threatening the security of every state in the region, both Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim, which are within the extensive operational range of its missiles capable of hitting barely a few meters from the target.

Last Sunday May 30, when I wrote the Reflection on Imperialism and Drugs, the brutal attack on the flotilla carrying food, medicines and other things for the one-and-a-half million Palestinians who are besieged in a small piece of what for thousands of years was their own Homeland, had not happened.

The overwhelming majority of people use their time to try to cope with the necessities that life brings on them --including food, the right to recreation and studying, and other crucial problems that afflict their closest relatives. They cannot stop to look at the information of what is going on in the planet. They can be found anywhere, with a noble expression on the face trusting that others will care to find the solutions to the problems that affect them. They are capable of rejoicing and laughing. Thus they cheer up those who have the privilege of observing with equanimity the realities threatening us all.

The very strange fabrication that North Korea had sunk the South Korean corvette Cheonan –designed with state of the art technology and equipped with a wide range sonar systems and submarine acoustic sensors—off the coast of that country meant blaming the former for the atrocious event that took the lives of 40 South Korean marines and caused injuries to tens of them.

I found it hard to unravel the problem. On the one hand, there was no way to explain how it could be possible for any government, regardless of its authority, to use the command mechanisms to order the launching of torpedoes against an insignia vessel. On the other hand, I did not believe for a second the story that Kim Jon IL had given that order.

I lacked the elements of judgment to enable me to reach a conclusion, but I had the certainty that China would veto a draft resolution in the Security Council leading to sanctions on North Korea. On the other hand, I had absolutely no doubt that the United States cannot prevent the use of the nuclear weapon by the uncontrollable Israeli government.

Late during the day of June 1st the veil was lifted off what really happened.

At 10:30 p.m. I listened to a sharp analysis by journalist Walter Martinez, the anchor of the Venezuelan TV star program Dossier. He concluded that the United States had misled the two Koreas into believing what each was saying about the other, this with the intent of solving the problem of the return of the territory occupied by the Okinawa base that the leader of Japan demanded echoing the people’s yearning for it. His Party had rallied great support during the elections based on his promise to achieve the withdrawal of the US military base stationed there, which is like a dagger stabbing for more than 65 years the heart of Japan, today a rich and developed nation.

The truly amazing details of what happened there have been known through Global Research, thanks to an article by Wayne Madsen, an investigative reporter working in Washington DC, who disseminated information from intelligence sources in the Web site Wayne Madsen Report.

These sources, he said, “…suspect that the attack on the corvette Cheonan of the South Korean Navy for submarine war was a false flag operation intended to make believe the attack was coming from North Korea.”

“One of the main purposes of increasing tension in the Korean peninsula was to put pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to make him change his policy on the withdrawal of the US Marine Corps base from Okinawa. Hatoyama has admitted that tensions over the sinking of the Cheonan had a significant influence on his decision to allow the US marines to stay in Okinawa. Hatoyama’s decision has caused a split in the center-left coalition government, an event welcomed by Washington, in view of the threat of Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party, to leave the coalition due to the change of heart about Okinawa.

“The Cheonan was sunk near the Baengnyeong Island, in the extreme west, a place distant from the South Korean coast but in front of North Korea. The island is highly militarized and within range of the artillery fire of the North Korean coastal defenses, which are on the other side of a narrow canal.

“The Cheonan, a corvette designed for antisubmarine warfare, was equipped with a cutting-edge sonar system. Furthermore, it operated in waters with extensive hydrophone sonar systems and submarine acoustic sensors. The South Korean sonar and audio show no evidence of a torpedo, a submarine or a mini-submarine in the area. Since there is hardly any navigation in the canal, the sea was quiet at the moment of the sinking.

“However, the Island of Baengnyeong shelters a US-South Korean military intelligence base and US Navy SEALS [special forces] operate from this base. Also, as the Cheonan was sunk, there were four ships of the US Navy in the sector, as part of the US-South Korea exercise Foal Eagle. An investigation into the metal and chemical traces of the suspicious torpedo shows it is of German manufacture.

“It is suspected that the US Navy SEALS keep a sample of European torpedoes to make deniability plausible for attacks under false flag. Furthermore, Berlin does not sell torpedoes to North Korea, but Germany has close cooperation programs with Israel for the joint development of submarines and submarine weapons.

“The presence of the USS Salvor, one of the ships taking part in the Foal Eagle, so close to the Baengnyeong Island during the sinking of the South Korean corvette raises questions, too.

“The Salvor, a civilian salvage ship with the Navy, involved in mine-setting operations by the Thai marines in the Gulf of Thailand in 2006, was also in the vicinity at the moment of the explosion with an additional force of 12 deep-water divers.

“Beijing, satisfied with North Korean Kim Jon Il protestation of innocence after an urgent trip from Pyongyang to Beijing by train, suspects the role of the US Navy in the sinking of the Cheonan, associated to specific suspicions arising from the role played by the Salvor. The suspicions are the following:

“1. The Salvor was taking part in a mine-setting operation in the sea bottom. In other words, it was setting antisubmarine mines that are shot horizontally in the bottom of the sea.

“2. The Salvor was conducting a routine inspection and maintenance of mines in the sea bottom and programming them in an electronic activation mode --shot by sensitive trigger—as part of the inspection program.

“3. A SEALS diver attached a magnetic mine to the Cheonan, as part of a clandestine plan intended to influence the public opinion in South Korea, Japan and China.

“The tensions in the Korean peninsula have conveniently eclipsed every other item on the agenda of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her visits to Beijing and Seoul.”

Thus, in an amazingly easy way, the United States was able to solve a major issue: to remove the National Unity government of Yukio Hatoyama’s Democratic Party, but at a very high cost:

1. It has deeply offended its allies in South Korea. 2. It has emphasized the skill and celerity with which his adversary Kim Jong IL acted. 3. It has enhanced the prestige of the Chinese power, whose President took personal action and with full authority sent the main leaders of China to talk with Emperor Akihito, with the Prime Minister and with other outstanding personalities of Japan.

The political leaders and the world public opinion have proof of the cynicism and absolute lack of scruples that characterize the United States imperial policy.